Abstract

Objective: To know the complementary therapy in patients with cervical cancer and to evaluate the reported effects according to scientific evidence.

Methods: Systematic review of the literature in scientific journals with the level of evidence II-IV in the PubMed portal, about the use of complementary therapy in cancer patients. Duplicates were excluded, if they included full-text articles, made in humans, with less than five years old related to cervical cancer and alternative therapy.

Result: The use of complementary therapy in cancer patients was found in 10 articles with a frequency of use of 16.4% to 87%, the most used was biological therapy, followed by body practices. It was better reported in 78% and decreased the effects of the use of conventional therapy for 75% of people.

Conclusion: Complementary therapy is used to improve the quality of life of patients with cervical cancer. Complementary therapy of biological type is the most used. The use of this treatment is related to the idea of having an improvement in personal well-being. More studies are needed to complement the benefit of the use of this therapy on cancer.

Keywords: Alternative therapy; Complementary therapy; Cancer; Cervical cancer